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You nailed it, Don - the key is population and the western AttitudeReader comment on item: How the West Could Lose Submitted by Michel C. Zala (United States), Jan 5, 2007 at 15:25 I could not agree with you more, Don. As European, living in the USA, I may offer a slice of my point of view too. All, ISLAM needs to do is thinking in generations, decades - simply wait, until one western country after another develops a muslim majority. This is especially prevalent in Europe where shortly several countries will experience the tragic fact that the muslim population segement will become the dominant majority. (Netherlands, France, Belgium). Due to ecomomical pressures (DINK - double income - no kids), a fundamental erosion of optimism, belief, hope, a decline of moral values, the western world has already begun its rapid decline.No inner strength, no inspiring leaders, a growing general desillusion and sarcasm resulting in a passive attitude and indeed self-hatred has lead to an overall split between former allies and growing weakness of individual western countries as well as the Western Civilisation in general. The demise of the Roman Empire comes to mind. The strength of ISLAM lays in its fanatism and focus.Total domination and penetration of all aspects of life by this Religion. Because of it, they make children and grow, while we lost steam. While our ( few remaining) children watch tv or play video games, theirs get in fact indoctrinated from day one. A whole generation of "holy warriors" is being raised, as we sit back and contemplate, argue, fight amongst each other, mudsling at the left or right wings, watch porn and desperate housewives and "pursue our happiness". Our passiveness will be our demise - not today or tomorrow, but in a few generations. A few hundred Kamikaze during the second world war, after all recruited only via an honor system, inflicted massive casualties on the American Forces and delayed the outcome. Today, we are faced with literally millions( and growing) of man women and children willing to kill themselves in the name of Allah. Think about it - how powerful must this fanatism be, if it can override the fundamental instinct of self-preservation in so incredibly many of their people? Without qualifying the Koran or ISLAM ( to my opinon at least has some serious design flaws), one has to admire the power of this religion and the western world must respect and appreciate the immense danger it poses. This religion is not peaceful, is not tolerant and is geared towards aggression and world domination. Whilst the Judeo/Christian belief system of the western world at least is held somewhat in check by separation of Church and State, as it also features significant intolerance of other religions and missionary tendencies, unfortunately the lack of belief system in the Western World has led to a cynical, passive, self-hating, sarcastic overal mentalilty - inner weakness vs the inner strength of the Islamic world. The will to persevere, the will to use armed forces has completely vanished in Europe. As the Europeans do no longer have armies to speak of, and are fundamentally afraid of their own islamic minorities, an attitude of appeasement has developed with at times unbelievable manifestations. For instance: Hostages are being beheaded on video and the European Media blames the US being the cause for it. Bush and the US are more often subject of hate and jokes by Europeans, than Islamic Fundamentalists. Israel is being blamed for an invasion, yet noone tries to understand that >50 Katjusha Rockets per day were raining down on northern Israel per day. But that is of course their own fault. The US ( and so far the UK but not for much longer) is the last bastion of the western world with the means to counteract, but instead of maintaining reasonable armed forces and unifying against an enemy of incredible magnitude and determination, the Western World infights and observes passively with an almost morbide fascination. But the US too weakens by the day la cking inspiring leaders and face a foreseable shift to the left in the next administration. Strong tendencies towards isolationism and a growing fatigue of being the only force remaining to stem the tide become visible. Having touched so briefly on only a few aspects, what would it take to "win this war" or at least to survive in the long run? 1. Inspiring leaders of the magnitude of a JFK or Gandhi or Churchill who can unify the Western World again including islamic minorities. Yes - win their hearts and minds ( after we won our own), yet demonstrate will and the courage not to shy away from draconic retailiation, as far as any radical on any side is concerned. Will this happen? I doubt it sincerely. The West has shown since WWII a pathological need to self-inflict to the extent of suicide and the sharia as legal fundament may well be happening to the West ( including Russia) within the next 100 years. Lastly - I am not against Islam. This is not about Islam vs Christianity , Buddhism or any other religion. I stand however against any Religion, as soon as it crosses the line of belief to politics. In the name of God most atrocities in history were committed. We all shall be free to practice our religion freely and peacefully yet never be allowed to try to missionarize or "spread the gospel". Leading by example is the only way to have someopne else embrace our religion. Forcing or influencing them in any other way shape or form should become a capital crime. Most people who make their religion the all encompassing center of their existence (fanatism) are people who simply have nothing else to focuson. We must for our own sake of survival give them the means to lead productive lives and break the deadly mechanism of revenge.And we must all start to hope and strive towards a bright future again. Our loss of hope only strengthes their resolve. Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". << Previous Comment Next Comment >> Reader comments (2112) on this item
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